Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay has explained how he very nearly missed out on getting Lionel Messi’s shirt after the Barcelona superstar initially refused to give it to him.
The two players faced off two times in 2019 in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Barca securing a 4-0 aggregate victory in which Messi netted a brace at Camp Nou in a dominant second-leg performance.
After the first leg, in which a Luke Shaw own goal was all that split the teams, McTominay had asked United goalkeeper – and Messi’s Argentina teammate – Sergio Romero to try and get him the Barca forward’s shirt.
But when the keeper returned to the Red devils dressing room he was empty-handed, with Messi refusing to give over his shirt because he thought McTominay elbowed him in the game.
Messi was left with a bloody nose after taking a heavy blow during the clash, but it was a case of mistaken identity with Chris Smalling – not McTominay – having caused the damage.
McTominay was quick to correct the situation, sending Romero back to Barcelona dressing room to explain that he was not the culprit, and he did eventually get Messi’s shirt.
In an interview with ESPN about who the best player in the world is, McTominay said: ‘Messi, 100 per cent. Yeah, Messi, Messi. I got his shirt, you know?
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‘So, whenever we played against him for Barcelona [in 2019], Chris Smalling elbowed him and he’s got blood coming out of his nose. And he thought it was me.
‘Because I said to Sergio Romero, “Please can you ask Messi to get his shirt?” ‘Sergio comes back in and said, “Oh, he thinks you were the one who elbowed him on the halfway line!”.
‘I said, “No, no, no, no – tell him it wasn’t me, so make sure I get that shirt because that’s going in my bedroom.” ‘So he knows it wasn’t me now. Sorry Chrissy, but he was the one who roughed him up a bit.’
